The Courtship of Lewis and Cleo Quiz

Answer: Five

In 1.11 "Sink or Swim", Rikki comments to Cleo that Lewis would get angry too if he were treated like a specimen.

Cleo: I don't know, Rikki. I've known Lewis since I was five, and I've never seen him get angry.

Lewis also states that he has been to all of Cleo's birthday parties - he was probably first on the list every year.

Author's note: Cleo and Lewis are my favourite couple. I've got a soft spot for childhood couples who've grown up together. I attended such a wedding once: the proposal was made at age 9, accepted, honoured, and they married at age 24.

Answer: Cleo fell in a swimming pool

In 1.02 "Pool Party", Nate and Zane threw Cleo into Miriam's backyard pool just as Lewis arrived.

All of the others at the party went into the house, leaving Lewis alone with Cleo in the water. Cleo knew that she could no longer hide the inevitable, and pleaded for his help.

There is a highly significant hand-hold scene here, where Cleo extends her hand (as a mermaid), and Lewis takes her hand, showing that he trusted her, in spite of what he was seeing. The hand-hold is echoed in 2.25 "Sea Change", where Cleo after having been defeated by Charlotte, thought Lewis had abandoned her. She hid in a shark-infested reef. Lewis came after her, and this time held his hand out to Cleo. After a moment's hesitation, she took his hand with both of hers and swam to the surface with him.

It is also significant that Lewis is the first to discover the mermaids, and is their loyal friend, for this parallels his counterpart, Max Hamilton in the 1950's.

Answer: "But, she's so ugly."

In 1.16 "Lovesick", Cleo dropped her locket in the dolphin pool as she came in to work. Since no-one was around, she went for a swim with Ronnie the dolphin to retrieve it. After this, Ronnie happily took food from Cleo. Mitch the trainer was impressed, saying that Ronnie was new and wouldn't let anyone get close to him.

This episode was a happy comedy of errors as Cleo's mum fawned all over Lewis, and Kim was sure that Cleo was eloping with Zane.

In reality, it was Ronnie who was lovesick for Jemima, a pregnant female dolphin they had rescued, who was in the neighbouring pool. Ronnie wasn't eating, because he was tossing all his food to Jemima. As Cleo surmised, "All he wanted was a girlfriend."

Answer: By the moon pool

First official kiss between Cleo and Lewis was in 1.24 "Love Potion #9". Lewis had come up with a spray that could waterproof their skin from casual spills that may occur at a dance function. But he never thought to ask Cleo to the dance itself. Later, by the moon pool, Cleo confessed to Lewis that he didn't seem interested in her, but she was interested in him. Lewis had always thought of Cleo as his best friend, but had not thought of her in a romantic context. And there, alone by the moon pool, they finally kissed for the first time proper.

An observant fan will notice that they were alone in this scene. Yet in 2.14 "Cleo vs Charlotte", we see that Cleo has this very scene in her personal photo album, even though no-one else was there to take the picture.

Answer: Biology

In 2.10 "Unfathomable", Cleo failed Biology.

Cleo: It's not because I had a bad day. It's because I didn't have Lewis around. We always used to study together.

Cleo has undoubtedly done schoolwork with Lewis since primary school. In fact, in 1.01 "Metamorphosis", we are introduced to Lewis as he drops by to help Cleo with Biology.

But now, stressed over her own broken home, she's pushed Lewis away. And Cleo is feeling the pangs of this absence in her life that she has made.

All the while, Lewis was reviewing that section of Biology, and was waiting for Cleo to call. Poor Cleo had underestimated Lewis' love for her.

Answer: Learning to paint in "Fire and Ice"

When Rikki sees this album open on Cleo's bed, she presses Cleo for the truth. Even though Cleo tries to make excuses, she cannot squirm her way out, and finally confesses to Rikki that she misses Lewis.

This is the turning point in Season 2, where Cleo decides that she loves Lewis.

An interesting fact about the three scenes given here as wrong answers is that in every case, it is known Cleo was alone with Lewis. There was no one present to take the picture, except for the "H2O" production crew!

Answer: Cleo was exposed as a mermaid on a public beach

In 2.16 "Visions", Lewis dreamed that Cleo swam up on a public beach to see him, and was quickly surrounded by a crowd. Lewis tries to disperse the crowd, saying, "There's nothing to see here." But then he sees Cleo fully exposed saying that she's missed him.

Later in the episode, Kim threw a large orange stuffed bear into a pool at the Marine Park. When Cleo was telling off Kim about her foolishness, Cleo was splashed by the performing water skiers, and had to dive into the pool to hide. The crowd formed, seeing something orange in the water. The very scene unfolded, but Cleo was using the bear for cover. Lewis dove in and recovered the bear, giving Cleo a chance to hide. He was later ejected from the park by security, but his beloved Cleo was safe.

In 3.05, Cleo herself had a nightmare about being taken by the water tentacle.

In 2.25, Cleo was defeated by Charlotte in a face-off, but Lewis never dreamt it.

In 1.03 "Catch of the Day", Cleo was tangled in a fishing net, and Rikki and Emma saved the day.

Answer: Faked a demonstration of the gravity-defying water for the teacher

In 3.06 "Secret and Lies", Lewis was trying some weight experiments in the school science lab with the gravity-defying water. Miss Taylor, the teacher, caught a glimpse of it and he quickly had to hide it.

Thinking she could quickly solve the problem, Cleo invited Miss Taylor to her house and explained that Lewis was reluctant to hand in his water experiment. And with Lewis watching, and "totally freaking out" as he put it, Cleo demonstrated the water. The teacher was stunned, suggesting that Lewis had found a way to alter the surface tension of the water. And Cleo actually let the teacher take a sample of the water.

After the teacher left, Cleo dropped the water in the glass. It was just plain, ordinary H2O, and Cleo was levitating it herself. She had the real moon pool water hidden in a separate container. Cleo was rather proud of herself.

But then Lewis pointed out that Miss Taylor would be expecting a full detailed report of how the water did what it did. Then Cleo realized that she had made a mistake, and partly shielding her eyes for shame said, "I'm sorry. I did bad, didn't I?"

How can Lewis help being in love with this adorable girl whom he's known since kindergarten?

Answer: Had him play golf with her dad

In 3.09 "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", Don Sertori's usual golf buddy had to cancel so Cleo kicked Lewis into playing. Even though Lewis claimed it was "definitely his first time" playing, he played golf like a gifted pro, with long straight drives, sinking long putts, and a hole-in-one on the eighteenth.

After Don's frustrating round, Lewis knew that there was much to be gained in making your girlfriend's father's day. When Don couldn't find his own ball on the eighteenth, Lewis kept his own hole-in-one a secret, and dropped another one of Don's golf balls in the hole, letting him believe that he got a lucky hole-in-one.

It worked: Don was ecstatic, and he cheered about that hole-in-one for the rest of the day.

Answer: At a wedding

This precious scene was in 3.13 "To Have and to Hold Back", at the wedding of Don Sertori and Samantha Roberts. Lewis had accepted a rare scholarship to study in USA and was leaving the following day. Cleo was terribly upset and broke down emotionally with Lewis at the wedding. Lewis then told Cleo that he had declined the offer, and that he couldn't just change his life, and that he loved her.

But during that little interlude, Kim had stolen the rings and found a valve to manually start the sprinklers. That put a damper on things, and the three mermaids had to run for privacy.

After this, Lewis left for the remainder of the school year to study outside the country. Samantha told Cleo that the absence would make her heart grow fonder. In that time, Ryan made a couple of attempts to court Cleo, but she flatly turned him down. And when Lewis returned at the graduation, Cleo had indeed grown fonder, and could hardly let go of him.

The budding romance of Lewis and Cleo is beautifully played out in the show. It can be summarized like this:

Season 1: Cleo realizes that she loves Lewis
Season 2: Cleo decides that she loves Lewis
Season 3: Cleo affirms that she loves Lewis

On the other hand, once Lewis accepted Cleo's love at the end of Season 1, he never changed his mind. He loved Cleo "absolutely".